The Top 25

The purpose of the ABA Top 25 is to show excellence in Bullmastiffs while promoting the breed to handlers, breeders and judges. Serving as an educational event for all fanciers, the Top 25 event provides Bullmastiff Fanciers with special recognition to show off their outstanding breed ratings as well as providing an incentive to strive for Bullmastiff structure, movement, temperament and conformation to our written standard. This event provides an opportunity for our fanciers to display their Bullmastiffs in an annual black tie event.

Statistics & Eligibility – The only requirement is for the dog to be ranked among the Top 25 Bullmastiff breed rankings for the calendar year of July 1 of the previous year through May 31 of the year of competition, which will be received from the American Kennel Club.

Invitation will invite the Top 25 Bullmastiffs only to compete.

Each dog will be judged on a point scale calculated by each individual judge.

Competition of the Top 25 must be held prior to Best of Breed Judging.

Previous winners of the Top 25 will be eligible to compete as long as they are among the Top 25 Bullmastiffs.

Ring Procedure

Each dog is judged on an individual basis using the provided scale of points.

The conversation between ring steward and judge shall be limited to ring procedure questions ONLY.

A reputable committee member, preferably the chair, will tabulate the scores.

The winner will be kept confidential until the end of the evening, where the winner will be announced. All individual scores and rankings shall remain confidential.

All entrants must attend the briefing held on Wednesday prior to the event, for the purpose of assigning arm band numbers, order of judging, and ring procedure overview. Those who do not attend will not be allowed to compete.

The order in which the dogs will enter the ring will be drawn during the meeting.

III. Judges

The Top 25 Committee will make the selection of the three judges. Excluded from this process is any member who has any interest whatsoever in any dog eligible to compete. The committee will select one individual from each of the following categories:* Handler (past or present). A professional handler who meets the requirements, although not necessarily a member or registered handler. Must have at least five years handling experience.* Breeder. Must be an established breeder who has been breeding for at least five years, as well as having produced champions of record.* Multi-Breed AKC Approved Judge. Must be approved to judge Bullmastiffs and at least four other breeds in any group.

Each participating committee member may nominate up to five judges in each category and then forward the names to the event chairman. The chairman will then tally up the nominations and select the winner. Upon notification, the event chair will then secure the acceptance of the winning nominees by sending each a written contract along with instructions to send a bio and a picture for the Top 20 catalog.

The names of the judges shall remain anonymous to all until the night of the Top 25 when the catalogs are sold.

The ABA will offer, as a means of hospitality, a dinner ticket for the judge and a guest to the annual awards banquet. No judge is to be paid for the Top 25; the judges are invited on an honorary basis.

Catalogs

Each year a catalog is prepared exclusively for the Top 25 event. It will consist of a biography of each judge, a listing of previous winners, a biography of each entry along with a photo and pedigree, a page for the previous winner, and a score sheet for spectators to follow along with on their own.

Catalogs will be on sale one hour prior to the start of judging and will be on sale the remainder of the events week.

Ribbons & Scoring

Each entrant who enters the event will receive a ribbon with the invitee’s name on it. Additional ribbons for owners and/or breeders may be ordered at additional cost.

The winner is the dog with the highest number of total points.

The scores for each dog from each judge are tabulated, added together, then divided by three (3) to determine each entrant’s average score.

In the event of a tie, the tiebreaker will be judged on the dog with the highest average placement score or initial impression score. This score can be found at the top of the score sheet and it is calculated by the judges when the entrants first walk into the ring.